The Battle for Castle Itter - May 5th, 1945
The U.S. Army and German Wehrmacht vs. The German SS
Austrian Alps
On May 5th, 1945, a few days after Hitler's suicide,
American soldiers under command of U.S. Army Captain John C. "Jack" Lee, Jr. teamed up
with a number of Wehrmacht soldiers under German Major Josef "Sepp" Gangl,
who was opposed to the Nazis and had been collaborating with the Austrian resistance.
Joining them were French prisoners of war and a Waffen SS Officer who had defected.
Gangl had surrendered with a white flag from his vehicle to Captain John C. "Jack" Lee,
who was close by, presenting the mission to rescue prisoners from Itter Castle.
An attempt for assistance in a rescue by the castle's Czech cook had reached Austrian resistance in a nearby town,
and as a result, reached Major Josef Gangl, who was now their leader.
The first attempt to find help was by Yugoslav political prisoner Zvonimir Čučković, but it had failed.
While he HAD reached Major John Kramers and the American 103rd Infantry Division,
their heavily armored rescue attempt, which would use M10 tank destroyers,
was recalled by heavy shelling and by superiors for encroaching into the territory of the U.S. 36th Division.
The objective was to rescue VIPs from an Austrian castle called Schloss Itter in the Tyrol,
now converted to a high-profile prison that held French VIPs,
including the ex-Prime Ministers Paul Reynaud and Édouard Daladier,
a tennis star, and former military figures.
The German guards at the castle had fled, and the prisoners had broken into the weapons room
and armed themselves with pistols, rifles, and submachine guns.
However, a German Waffen-SS division was roaming around the nearby forest
and had arrived to recapture the castle and execute the prisoners.
The American and German group closed in on the castle,
and Lee and Gangl greeted the unimpressed French prisoners, who were expecting a bigger rescue force.
Lee ordered the Sherman tank to park at the front gate so it could cover the road.
Once the men had been fed, Lee, Gangl, and the young SS officer set up defensive positions and
talked over strategies to defend the castle from the impending SS force.
In the evening, a reconnaissance force of Waffen-SS opened fire on the castle to test the enemy's strength.
The U.S. and Wehrmacht troops moved to their defensive positions and returned fire.
At dawn, the SS used an 88 anti-tank gun, which was well concealed,
to destroy part of the castle, and then blew up the Sherman tank, which had been providing machine gun fire.
However, the radio man inside was able to escape in time.
The Waffen-SS, numbering around 150 men,
had began their main attack from the treeline towards the castle gate and from the west reaching the castle's lower walls.
The American and German defenders, as well as the French prisoners,
fired at the attackers from their high-up positions in the castle and loopholes.
The SS managed to kill and wound several of the defenders,
including Josef Gangl, who was killed by a sniper while trying to move French Prime Minister Reynard from harm.
By the afternoon, Lee and the American and German defenders were running low on ammunition,
and were seeking reinforcements from Major John Kramers, who had telephoned him with the assistance of Austrian partisans.
A relief force was now on its way.
As the situation was getting desperate,
Lee accepted tennis star Jean Borotra's courageous offer to vault the castle wall
and run past the SS strong points and ambushes to find and guide the reinforcements to the castle.
Lee prepared for an SS breach of the walls, and a close-quarters fight,
until finally, at 4:00 P.M., the American reinforcements arrived with tanks,
quickly defeating the Waffen-SS force and taking many prisoners.
It is believed that this was the only battle where Americans and Germans fought together as allies.
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